Three Stories
by srgeman
Summary: Mid-way through his lifes journey, Gabriel picks up two passengers whose stories will change his life forever.
1. First Story

**AN : **This story isn't an ordinary pokemon story, it is a Combiomorph story. Combiomorphs are not my creation, they belong to pikachuhunter1. To find out about them, I suggest you read their flagship story, An Apple For Ralts. Anyway, R&R Three Stories, and read An Apple For Ralts, and the combiomorph challenge.

**Dissclaimer** : Don't own pokemon, don't own combiomorphs.

**Three Stories**

_The First Story_

Mid-way through my journey in life, I found my self on a dark road, and I had long sense wandered from the straight and true. Above me was a cloudless sky, where a full, pale, moon hung, suspended against the black. Despite the lack of clouds, their were no stars I could see. For a moment, I could see Emma's face reflected in the moon, her black hair swept behind her, her green eyes laughing mischievously. But Emma wasn't there, nor was she in the car with me. Soon, I would be with her, but until then, I was alone.

In the seat beside me, several items of various importance had been thrown about carelessly. A newspaper, a stun gun, a half empty squirt bottle, a pair of hand cuffs, and an empty pokeball. The day before, the pokeball had held a very dear and personal friend to me, who I had released before going on my journey. I assumed he (I think he was a he, to be honest, unless a pokemon has a definitive different form for their gender, it could be very hard to tell) would be happier not having to shuttle me around every where.

Under the front passenger seat was an old, oak box, with the letters GS written on the front, in gold letters. The box was latched shut by a small lock, I wasn't ever going to open it again, and the moment I got to my destination, I planned on throwing it in a lake. Thinking about the box, I reached under the newspaper beside me. My fingers curled, and uncurled around the handle of a Browning Buck Mark. It had a wooden comfort grip, cracked from when I smashed another mans skull in. Rather nasty and bloody affair, but necessary for my purposes.

I drummed my hands on the wheel, trying to stay awake. I was exhausted, after two days on stopping only to refuel, and to eat twice. My radio had been pried out and sold two days earlier. I needed to use cash, unless the HPA found me. If they found me, it would be hell to pay, for what I did. Occasionally, my eyes would dart to the news paper, the title reading **WORLD LEADER JANICE ABIGNALE SIGHNS MONEY FOR COMBIO PROTECTION. **The title made me laugh, it would always make me laugh. Oh Janice, you lousy lying piece of shit.

Combiomorphs, who first came up with that word? Heck, who first came up with them? Combiomorphs were the personification of combination. They were three parts, two parts pokemon (not the same pokemon) and one part human. The first morphs had appeared in an apple orchard, some where in the world, a long time ago. Slowly, hundreds, and then thousands of morphs appeared, to the point that seeing them every where was not uncommon. They were stronger then humans, their combinations generally negated the weakness' of a pokemon, and they were feared by humans and pokemon alike.

They didn't fit in with humans, because they weren't "quit human enough". They were disliked by pokemon, but I don't know why. After several years, the government decided they wanted to try to make their own combiomorphs, a few years before Ms. Janice became our leader. The government would take children, and create morphs, trying to train them into soldiers. Since children aren't the easiest things in the world to take care of, and a project of this magnitude is hard to hide, it was discovered two years after it began. The project was shut down, all of the children were placed in foster care.

The public out rage was extra ordinary. First, they wanted to kill the government, for what they did to the kids. Then, they wanted to kill the kids, for being combiomorphs. Finally, they wanted to kill the combiomorphs for being combiomorphs. That was ten years ago, maybe eleven, and combiomorph hate crimes were at an all time low rate of 200 percent! Any time I hear people talk about how we live in enlightened times, and times of understanding, I laugh until I shit my self.

The main source of anti-combio sentiment came from a group called Human Purity Army. The group, I had decided, were a bunch of crazies, determined to eliminate all combiomorphs, by any means necessary. They had been around for a long time, although how long is any ones guess. They will always be remembered as the group who killed Marla Newman. She had been a young Heracross/Hypno combiomorph, whom the group had beaten until her psychic power didn't work, before nailing her to a wooden cross, and setting her on fire. They sent the video to every major news station, not just in the country, but in the world. The station would talk about how sick they were over Marla's death, before showing the uncut video for the 100 the time. Pigs.

HPA members could be any where, they weren't easily recognized. They didn't wear uniforms, or all carry guns, or sacrifice virgins at midnight as a sign of their crazy. Their was only one thing all members of HPA had in common. Each had a tattoo, on the right palm of men and the left of women. The tattoo was a small H, a large P, and a small A, all superimposed over an eight sided black star. Although having that tattoo was a dead give away, the soldiers still thought was it as a badge of honor. We have a word for people like that, morons.

As I drove away from my life, and my problems, I hoped to never see another HPA solider or combiomorph, at least not any time soon. Well, I was wrong. The road I was driving on, on both sides, were large trees. They blocked my field of vision, and the darkness obscured shapes. The only things I could see was the sky, and the road in front of me, thanks to my headlights. I was especially grateful for the headlights, because they revealed two figures in the road, allowing me to swerve and not hit them.

"Mother fucker" I groaned, as I slowly pulled my head up from the steering wheel, which I had slammed into pretty hard.

"Do you need any help" One of the figures, a woman, called.

"No, no thank you" I said, as I flicked the light in my car on, "I'm fine, I- I was cut off by surprise. Combiomorphs, both figures were combiomorphs. Shit.

I reached into the passengers seat, for my gun. The clip was fully loaded, each bullet tipped with special ceramic (second hardest substance found in nature, cheaper the diamonds, and can punch a hole in a steel sheet). I could shoot both of them in the head, before they got the chance to blink. No one would be able to find me, no one lived in these woods, I was alone for four hundred miles.

"What are you doing Gabe?" Emma asked from the backseat.

"I'm not sure" I muttered. "It's my natural survivor instinct"

"You can't kill them" She whispered in my ear, as she draped her arms over my shoulders. "What did they do to you?"

"They're combios, need I say more?" I tightened my grip on the cracked butt of my gun. "It's not like the world will be missing any thing. Besides, I'll make it painless, bang-bang, dead"

"That's wrong Gabe" Emma whispered, her arms crossed over my chest, "What if the shoe was on the other foot?"

"But it isn't" I said, my confidence wavering. Emma nuzzled her face against mine.

"What would I do?" Emma asked, before kissing the side of my face. I sigh, and feel the gun fall away. I pull the key out of the ignition, and get out of my car.

"Are you two okay?" I asked the two combios.

"Yeah, we're fine" The woman responded.

"You two are in trouble" I said, "Do you need any help?" The two figures looked at each other.

"Why would you s-say that?" The man this time. A slight stutter, proof they are in some kind of trouble.

"Do you know where we are?" They both nodded. "We are in the four hundred mile woods that separate Kanto from Johto. Most people fly their, or take an air ship. A few drive. None walk. Its suicide to walk, there is nothing here. Town start when value is put on land, generally when something is discovered, like oil or diamonds. Nothing has been discovered here, this place has no value. No people, no supplies for a long journey, you two are running from something" I smiled, "You're in luck, I'm also running from something. I'll give you two a ride.

"Are you sure?" The woman asked, "Isn't it dangerous to be caught with a pair of combiomorphs?"

"Fuck danger, if you want a ride, get in. If you don't, I'll leave you here" They didn't have to be told twice, and quickly got into the back seat of my car. I put the key in the ignition, and the over head light came back on, giving me a better view of both of them.

I'll describe the woman first. Her whole skin, minus her arms, was a shiny gray color, the color of polished metal. Her right arm was a large, blue and black, armor plated blade. She had two, plated wings growing out of her back, pressed flat. Her left arm looked normal, except for the fact it was colored red, and it appeared to be magnetic. She had a blue plated, spiked tail, curled around her waist. Her face was normal, except her left eye was red.

"Their aren't any seatbelts" The Armaldo/Magnezone combiomorph said.

"You could probably deflect an atom bomb" I said, "What do you care about seatbelts?" I turned to the man.

He wasn't any more subtle then his female friend. He also had a large tail curled around his waist, but his was dark gray, and made of rock. His body was covered with brown fur, even his face, the only place with out fur had rock. On his stomach, was a yellow ring. His left arm was a Rhydon drill, and his right looked normal, except for the wickedly sharp claws coming out of his fingers.

"You know," I said, "I look at you two, and wonder, how does my car hold you two? Never mind, what's your name?" They looked at each other.

"Whose?" The woman asked.

"Both of yours. If I'm going to talk to you two, I need to know your names. If you don't feel comfortable, you can just give me your first name" They nodded.

"I'm Kenny" The male said.

"I'm Carmen" The woman said. Innocent names, from two people who look like they were built to be killing machines.

"Well, I'm Gabriel" I said, "May I ask, where are we going"

"Two hundred miles this direction" Carmen said, "Until we come to a large yellow rock, it can only be seen at night. After that, Kenny and me have to travel on foot" I wasn't even going to ask why they were traveling two hundred miles on foot, or how they hoped to accomplish it.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" I asked, as I took a cigarette out of my shirt pocket.

"Its your car" Kenny said. "But don't you know, those things will kill you"

"Not if the HPA catches me first" I mumbled, lighting up. I took a long drag, then gestured at Carmen. "What are you running from. I want to hear your story"

"What about me?" Kenny asked.

"You latter, her now" I said.

"Why should I tell you a thing?" Carmen asked.

"Because, I think we're running from the same thing" I said, "We're running from the HPA"

"How do you know we're running from the HPA?" Carmen asked, uncertainly.

"You first" I said. I took another drag, "Why are you here, what's your story" Carmen gulped.

"Alright, my story. Well, it begins back when I was still human"

**

* * *

**

A Village, Somewhere in Kanto

I was born and raised in northern Kanto, in a village so small, it didn't have a Pokemon center, or even a name. It was nestled in a valley, in between mountains that ran along the Kanto/Sinnoh border. Snow fell regularly eight months of the year, but in June, their was no snow. The area was alive with lush green trees and grass, blue geraniums, red roses, and berry bushes of multiple colors. A wonderful tapestry, and a feast for the eyes.

Not many people came to our village, due to its remote location, but also another reason. Our village had no combiomorphs living there, but it had plenty stay there from time to time. We were inviting to combiomorphs, and that earned us scorn from much of Kanto, and hatred from the HPA.

I lived in a two story, clapboard house, on the edge of the village. From the view of my window, I could see the base of a mountain, covered with large trees. I loved the mountain, I had always felt a connection with nature, with the beauty found in the wilderness. My parents allowed me to explore the base of the mountain, and to walk any where on a walking trail, but not to go any where that required me to climb a rock or ice wall. I owned mountain climbing gear (they didn't know) so I did what I wanted.

That day is permanently etched into my mind, every little detail. I awoke to water, dribbling off of tree branches. It had rained heavily the night before, and a fog hung over the village. The sun had trouble breaking through the fog, and sense the mountain was in front of my window, I generally awoke in darkness, and today was no exception.

"Ugh, what a head ache" I moaned, as I woke up, my head splitting from top to bottom. I looked at the clock on the night stand beside me, eleven am. One good thing about the middle of summer, you can stay awake until two am the night before, and sleep all day the next morning.

The ice cold floor sent a little jolt through my spine with every step I took, as I walked out of my room, and down to the kitchen. My parents were both gone, and a note on the fridge said "Cam Cam darling, back at noon, love you, Mom"

I sighed, and crumpled up the note. I had an hour to be out of the house, and up the mountain. I didn't get along with my parents because, well, they were members of a bizarre religious organization called The Tabernacle of The Sun. The TTS taught them that TV and computers were devices used to warp the minds of devout followers. Of course, they believed that God lived on Planet Nipto, non-organic food allowed brain parasites to burrow into your brain, and pokemon were all inhabited by demons.

I liked pokemon. I found them fascinating, living representations of the beauty in the world. I didn't want to be a trainer, that held no real interest to me. I wanted to live away from the world, I found people annoying, pokemon were the only creatures I really related to (as much as I liked them, I never wanted to be part pokemon, still I'm not sure if I wanted to). My goals for life one day was to travel the world, aimlessly. I wanted to record what I saw, not for any one to read, just me. I wanted to have fun. Basically, my goal in life, was to have no goal in life EVER. God, I was a little shit back then, wasn't I? Well, that's the fun part about being fifteen, you get to be a little shit.

I didn't bother to shower, or comb my hair. I pulled on a pair of blue jeans, and an old sweat shirt, and some really ratty shoes. I threw together a lunch fast (the only food we had was fruit, and the only liquid we had was water). I was three steps out the front door, when I heard "Carmen!"

"Shit" I muttered. Putting on my best shit eating grin, I turned around to the woman who called my name. "Hello, Mrs. Murgatiod"

Mrs. Murgatiod was my next door neighbor. I'd put her age somewhere between eighty and a million. She had been in the village longer then the house she lived in, and most people thought she was out of her fucking mind. I'm not the best judge of crazy, I had parents who had told me Santa was a cannibal who ate disobedient children. I liked Mrs. M, she always had interesting things to say, and she had an Absol, who might have been as old as she was. The Absol, named Petra, was coming along beside her. I bent down, and petted the fur on the side of her face.

"I haven't seen you in ages" Mrs. Murgatiod said, as I stood back up, "How have you been? How are you parents, are they fine?" actually, I had seen Mrs. M two days ago. The old woman was a widow, and growing increasingly lonely, so she desperately needed some one to talk with. I generally filled that void, although other people occasionally manned up. Most people avoided her, thinking she was a loon. When you're that lonely, two days really is a life time alone. I hope I never end that bad off.

"Every one is fine" I said, desperately wanting to get away, before my parents returned. "And I'm sure you're fine to, so with that established, I'm going to"

"Jean and Fantine are gone" This froze me in mid-step. Mrs. Murgatiod had only one specialty, she was the biggest gossip on the planet. Since people ignored her, she would listen to people, and hear more then they want to know. And Jean and Fantine leaving was something big.

Jean and Fantine were a combiomorph, and a human woman, who were living at the only hotel in town. Where they came from, we didn't know, all we knew was they had been here a month, and their origins were shrouded in mystery. Aside from the fact their names were obvious aliases, its odd to see a combio and a human traveling together, much less living together. Rumors flew around, that the two were in a sexual relationship (an offense that could result in prison time, at the time), even though they had rented two rooms. He was believed to be a run away prisoner, and she was believed to have worked for the government. Or maybe she was also a prisoner. I always found her weird, when ever she was seen in town, she wore a glove over her left hand. With the cloud of suspicion they were under, disappearing didn't help things.

"When did it happen?"

"In the middle of the night. They left all their clothing, and climbed out their windows. All of the identification they had, fake. Every thing about them, fake"

"That prison/government rumor might not have been fake" I said. "If they had to run in the middle of the night"

"This begs the question" Mrs. M said, "Who was after them? If the two of them are gone, does that mean who was hunting them will follow?"

* * *

I sat on a small overlook, almost three thousand feet up, looking at the village. All of the people looked like little dots, scurrying about, like insects. The houses looked like dollhouses, plastic, and some what cute. If I reached out, I felt like I could grab them, and pick them up. This was how I liked to view the village, separate from all of their little problems, watching over them, like they were children. I felt strong, all powerful, like God, sitting on his cloud. I wouldn't want that much responsibility, but it was nice to pretend.

"I am the almighty Carmen" I cried, "Fear my power" They ignored me. I sighed, and ate the last of my banana I had brought. All I had was a half empty water bottle, and an apple.

As I stood up, a large shadow passed over me. Looking up, I saw the outline of something large and majestic, some kind of flying type pokemon, but I didn't know what. All I saw was a black out line, but what ever it was, it was huge.

I decided to go back to my house, for some reason, their was nothing here that excited me. I turned to go back down the trail I had come up, not noticing the fog that had hung in the air the whole time, suddenly growing thicker.

"I can't see a thing" I muttered. The fog had risen up, in a smooth and entombing white wall. I could no longer see the trees, or the sky, or the dirt path I had walked up on. I was vaguely aware I was still walking up, but I couldn't, or didn't want to turn around. The fog was comforting, even though it hid everything. Including the large stone wall I walked into.

"Fuck!" I cried, as I fell on my butt, holding my bleeding nose. I had walked straight into something stone. As I looked up, I could see a giant brown wall, completely taking up my field of vision, but I couldn't see the top. Sticking out of the wall, were a series of small stone ledges, sticking about nine inches out of the ground, running all the way up the wall. Blood dripped from one of the ledges, where I smacked my nose.

If you asked me now, I couldn't explain it. In fact, I probably couldn't have explained it then. I grabbed onto one of the ledges, placed my foot on one, and began to climb up. Although I had to be careful when I place my foot on the ledge with my blood, all of the ledges were strong, so I was able to climb up the wall quickly.

It was as if I was guided by some unknown force, pulling my up, moving me like a puppet. I climbed for what seemed like forever, and I never got tired, or even curious as to where I was going. Every thing would be okay, I would get there when I got there. Never mind I couldn't hear any of the pokemon in the forest, or even the rain dripping off trees. Who cares that it rained all night, and the wall is bone dry, every thing will be okay.

As long as the wall was, its end was equally abrupt. My hand suddenly made contact with the top of the wall, or cliff. I could feel grass on top of the cliff, and as I pulled my head up, the fog was almost gone.

On top of the cliff, was covered with grass, which grew to the edge of a large pool of water. Floating above the pool, was a Gardevoir. I could see the top of her helmet, her head was turned down. Behind her, was a wall of fog, thicker and darker then the one I had walked in. I thought she was asleep, until her head shot up.

_Hello Carmen_ The Gardevoir said, her words reverberating in my skull. Her red eyes sparkled at my shock, as I took one step back.

"H-how did you know my name?" I asked. The Gardevoir floated closer, until she came to the edge of the pool.

_I brought you here Carmen. You climbed up a wall that doesn't exist, to find a pool that can't be found. The last thing you should wonder, is how I know your name. _I nodded.

"Alright, you brought me here" I locked eyes with her. "Why am I here?"

_Don't you know?_

"NO!" I yelled. She laughed.

_Carmen, your goal in life is not to have a goal. But, life doesn't work that way. You are special Carmen, you're going to be part of something great. You are not alone, many others have a part to play, in a drama unfolding in front of their eyes._

"What if I don't want a part to play?" I asked. Unconsciously, I reached for the apple in the bag I brought for lunch.

_You only think you don't want to. You can only see part of this story, if you could see the whole thing, you would beg to be part of it._

"I don't care" I took a bite of the apple, "I want to be left alone"

_It's to late._ As she said (thought?) this, the first convulsion racked my body.

"What the?" I looked at the apple, which I dropped on the ground. "W-what did you do to me?"

_I'm sorry._ The pain was intense, my body was on fire. I felt my lips moving, but no sound came out. Feeling my body being shredded, I closed my eyes, and passed out.

When I came to, I was still in tremendous pain. Water had rushed over me, when I passed out, I fell into the pool. Of my four combinations, not a damn one is resistant to water. Opening my eyes was the hardest thing I've ever done. The water burned like acid. My vision was blurred, and my body felt heavy, my right arm was completely stiff. I couldn't move my fingers at all, but something was distracting it.

I was feeling things I should never have been able to. I could feel pain rocketing straight up my spine, from a limb above my butt. I could feel pain radiate through my back, through limbs that couldn't be there. I had to get out.

I kicked my lead heavy legs, until my head bumped into a dirt wall. _Please let this be it. _I hefted my left arm, whose fingers I could mover, over the edge, and some how, dragged my self up.

I rotated between pulling with my left arm, and stabbing with my right, until even my feet where out of the water. I flipped onto my back, panting, only to realize, I was inclined at least a foot off of the ground. Sighing, I knew it was time to open my eyes. I looked at my right arm. A claw stared back at me. I nodded, and then screamed at the top of my lungs.

I jumped up, all exhaustion from earlier gone. Slowly, I made my way over to the pool, where my new reflection greeted my. As I touched my metal body, with my magnetic arm, it took a Herculean effort not to pass out. A combiomorph, I was a freaking combiomorph.

"T-this can't be happening" I said, walking backwards, "I can-AWWWWWAAAA!" I stepped off the edge of the wall, and plummeted to the ground. "Think Carmen, unless you want to die? What are you? Magnezone and Armaldo, and Armaldo have wings!"

My wings were gigantic, but effective. Fluttering my beetle wings quickly, I was able to flip so I was facing down, and then so I would slow down. I lost so much speed, I simply floated to the ground. The moment my feet hit earth, I laughed.

"Okay, now that was fun" I said. I turned around, to see the wall was no longer there. "The Gardevoir wasn't lying. I climbed up a wall, that doesn't exist, to find a pool that can't be found"

_How do you explain this to your family_

"I'll think about that later" I muttered, "Lets get out of here now" I walked back up the dirt trail, that lead to the overlook, where I had eating lunch. I sat down, only to jump back up, jabbed in the butt by my tail. Wrapping it around my waist, I looked down at the village. And my blood ran cold.

Every one in my village was being marched out of their house, or their business, and into the center of town. They were lead at gun point, by men wearing all black uniforms, each holding an assault rifle. I noticed that each person in black had the letters HPA on their back.

My village had about 120 people who lived there, it really was that small. All of the people were forced to sit in the center of town, while all the soldiers stood around them, guns pointed, ready to shoot. Slowly, the circle of black uniforms parted, and he walked in.

The others you could tell were soldiers, but not him. When he walked through the circle, he looked so out of place, it wasn't funny. He was wearing a button up white shirt, with a sweater vest over it, and the sleeves of the shirt were rolled up to his elbows. He wore dress pants, shiny shoes, and a pair of large, black frame glasses. He was smoking a cigar.

"Hello assorted people, of little village in the ninth ring of hell" The man said. "I am Mr. Lyn, and you are prisoners of the Human Purity Army" This sent shock waves through the people. Even in my little village, we knew who the HPA were. "Now, this can all end quickly, if you tell us what we need to know. Now, you had a combiomorph and a human woman living here, where are they now?"

"Nobody knows" A woman said. It was Mrs. Murgatiod, shit. Petra sat beside her, looking at the soldiers with rage. Mr. Lyn walked over to Mrs. M.

"What do you mean, no one knows?"

"They left in the middle of the night" Mr. Lyn nodded.

"That's really to bad" He grabbed a riffle off of on of the soldiers, and fired at Mrs. M, killing her with a bullet to the head. Petra jumped at him, and he blew Petra away. He then opened fire on every one else.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha" Lyn laughed, as blood and bone splattered. The people were attempting to run away, but the moment they got out of the circle, the other soldiers opened fire on them. "Die you fucking bastards! Die you shit fucks"

In two minutes, the soldiers stopped firing. All of the people lay in a broken pile, on top of each other, their blood pooling together. My parents had died down there, where I doubt I'll ever know. In moments, it was done, and as quickly as they came, the army vanished, leaving every one to die in the street. The blood and the death clouded my thinking, as I jumped off of the overlook. Once again guided by some unknown force, I was able to glide to the ground, my mind a blank.

I landed in my side yard, to the sound of air blowing through the empty buildings, and footsteps echoing off the stone streets. Some one was still here, and I needed to find out who. In spite of the fact my body might have weighed a half a ton, I was able to move silently through the destruction. The faces of the people, looking at me with dead eyes, mouths locked in silent screams, brought tears to my eyes, but I did not cry.

I had to hold my tail with my magnetic arm, to avoid the spikes bumping into any thing. I walked, until I came upon one HPA solider. He wasn't very old, probably still a kid, with curly red hair, and a face full of freckles. He was somebody's baby, but in his hands was an assault riffle, the baby had a toy.

"Hey fucker" I said. The boy jumped, and span around, finger on the trigger. Upon seeing me, he fired off a volley of bullets. Instinctively, I raised my magnetic arm, and all of the bullets got stuck to it. The bullets were armor piercing rounds, steel rounds, and sense steel is made of iron, it is highly magnetic. The boy screamed, as my magnetic arm jerked the gun out of his hand, and into my palm.

"Pu-please" He begged. He took one step back, as I threw the gun away and jumped on him. I drove my claw into his leg, blood spurting every where. He screamed, tears of pain dribbling out of his eyes. I held my magnetic arm around his throat, preparing to fill him with a thousand volts.

"Stop it" A firm voice commanded.

"Grrr, who asked you" I yelled, turning around quickly. My magnetic hand let go of the solider, but the claw was still in his leg. I wouldn't have noticed if he managed to escape though, because I was shocked by what was behind me.

Combiomorphs, at least twelve, stared at me, their faces expressionless. The one who spoke to me was a Blastoise/Gallade combiomorph, powerful and scary, I was actually shaking. "W-who are you?"

"I am Enjorlas" The lead combio said. "We need that man" I looked back at the shaking boy.

"Let me kill him fist, and you can have him"

"This boy is not responsible for the death that has happened here today" Enjorlas said, "He is not armed. If you kill him, it will be murder, and you will be no better then them" I let out a scream of frustration, before nodding, and pulling the claw out. The boy was then grabbed by two other combios. "Flip his hand over, right hand"

They did, and on the boys right palm, was a tattoo. It was an eight sided black, or blue star, with the letters HPA on it. "That is the sign of the HPA" Enjorlas said to me, "Right hand for men, left hand for women. If the star has a silver band on the edge, it means the person is one of the HPA's assassins. If it has a gold band, then the person is one of the top five assassins working for the HPA, and has over one hundred kills" Enjorlas helped me to my feet.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"The HPA attacked your village, because two of our agents were hiding here" He said, "You knew them by the names Jean and Fantine. Jean was one of our agents, Fantine was a virologist who we were helping run. They got wind of an HPA troop coming, so they ran. First, they got in contact with me. We came here, hoping to stop them" Enjorlas looked at a woman's body, face completely blown away, "We were to late"

"You're damn right you were to late" I screamed.

"We hid them here, until we could set up a false identity for both of them. Unfortunately, every one here is dead, and for that I am sorry" Enjorlas sounded sincere. "Now, you need to come with us"

"Why?"

"The HPA left this boy here to clean up, and make sure no one was left behind. When he never shows up again, they'll come back, and they will kill you. You come with us, and we promise you will be able to have vengeance, not the kind you want though"

"Who are you guys?" Enjorlas smiled.

"We are the combiomorph resistance" He said, "I am the leader of the Kanto branch, and I report to our grand leader. We seek peace and understanding, between humans and combiomorphs. We end up using most of our resources stopping and subverting the HPA, and our main goal, at this point in time, is the destruction of the HPA. So, will you join us?" I thought about it.

"Yeah, I'll join you"

* * *

"I don't understand" I said, "You saw your village burn, and every one in it executed. What kept you going?" Carmen shrugged her massive shoulders.

"I had faith" She said, "That if I tried, I could make a better world, a more understanding world. Most of all though, I wanted to remake the world, with out the HPA"

"You know Gabe" Emma said, from the front passenger seat, "Faith is an area you need to work on"

"Not now Emma"

"Especially with monsters like Lyn out there" I smiled.

"You mean, when there are monsters like Lyn"

"Who are you talking to?" Carmen asked

"Okay, you had faith," I said, rapidly changing the subject, "But why were they hunting you. You only told me about your joining the resistance"

"I never said they were hunting me" Carmen said.

"They're hunting me" Kenny said. "Because of what I know"

"What we know" Carmen said, taking Kenny's hand. "They want to kill us"

"And you're traveling by night, to escape them" I said.

"The rock that can only be seen at night" Kenny said, "About a mile into the woods, there is a large lake. Every night, the resistance lands a sea plane, and moves combios to Sinnoh, and the main compound. We need to get there in two days" I laughed.

"You were hoping to cover two hundred miles in two nights?" I laughed. "No way in hell"

"We've already been traveling for two nights" Carmen said. "We've covered fifty miles"

"Incredible, but not even close to enough distance" I said. "I'll get you there tonight, don't worry" I looked at Kenny, "Why are they chasing you?"

"I don't think its safe for you to know" Kenny said.

"I've got my own reasons for running from the HPA" I said, as I flipped my right hand over, making sure they couldn't see. The eight sided star, with a gold band, and the letters HPA were still fresh on my palm. The tattoo, my sign if loyalty. "Trust me, its safe if I know"

I turned as the road curved, and my head lights caused the dark trees to give the outline of horrible monsters. As Kenny began his story, I wondered which one. Which one was waiting for us? Which one was our monster, and would they find us?

**AN : **That's one story


	2. Second Story

**AN : **Thank you pikachuhunter1, and Lady of DarkFire for reviewing.

**Three Stories**

_The Second Story_

You can never really know someone. You can think you know them, but you can never truly know them. I thought I had known Emma, my love and my wife. A simple woman, a beautiful woman. She had never mentioned an interest in politics or current issues, although she did care about combiomorphs, and would try to help them when ever she could. I think she called it her "good Christian duty", or something like that, I wasn't paying attention. Emma, she loved the combios, and all of those groups, the poor, the oppressed, the hopeless. She wanted to save all of them, even though she didn't have the power. Maybe that's what drove Emma to it, I don't know. But I loved her, God I loved her.

I never cared about the combiomorphs, when I had Emma. I stood over here, they stood over there, and that was fine with me. I didn't want to interact with them, I just wanted to be neutral. But life doesn't work that way, you have to take sides eventually. I first agreed with Emma, no matter what she believed in. Then, I took the side of the HPA, because I hated the combiomorphs with a passion, as much as I loved Emma. My hatred drove me to become an assassin in the HPA, eventually having over 100 kills, and earning a gold band on my tattoo. Now, I don't know where I stand. Considering I'm currently transporting two combiomorphs in my car, in the woods between Kanto and Johto, I suppose I'm against them.

The motto of the HPA was "Hakko Ichuo", or "Bringing the eight corners of the world under one rule". I've wondered a lot about that lately, the world under one rule. The world is constantly in flux, people killing other people or them selves, for no reason what so ever. The HPA was trying to unite the world in peace, by creating a pure human race, the complete elimination of all combios. Although I initially agreed with that, I'd come to realize something. Humans had been around since the dawn of time, and look at the world they created. Destruction and death on every corner, and it's not improving, it's getting worse. Maybe it is time for change, for a race that isn't all human. Eh, what do I know about any thing?"

"Alright, what's your story?" I asked Kenny, one of the two combios in my car. I could see in his eyes, anxiety, he was sitting on something big, and desperately needed to unload. "Why is the HPA chasing you?"

"I don't think its safe for you to know" I laughed. Couldn't help it.

"Believe me, it's safe for me to know" Kenny looked at Carmen, the other combio in my car.

"Alright" The Ursaring/Rhydon combio said. "But I'll have to omit a few details, for your own safety"

"That's fine with me"

"Tell me Gabe" Emma said from the passengers seat, "Are you going to tell them your story?" Her eyes seemed to be laughing at this situation.

"No, I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon" I muttered. Emma frowned.

"Gabe, they'll need to know"

"They'll then rip me limb from limb"

"You don't know that. Have a little faith" Emma moved over, and kissed me on the side of the head. "Listen to Kenny's story, then decide" I nodded.

"Gabe, my story is like Carmen's, it begins when I was still human" Kenny said. Talking about his time as a human seemed to be hurting him. "I became a combio when I was eight, but I still remember my human life"

* * *

Click. I watched a small flame appear on the metal lighter, before my mother maneuvered it under the glass pipe. The pipe filled with smoke, which vanished into my mothers mouth. She wheezed twice, and leaned back in her rocking chair, the pipe and lighter falling onto the burned carpet.

_I'm so hungry_ I thought to my self, _But I can't ask, I'm afraid to ask. _My stomach let out a loud gurgle, asking the question for me. The noise snapped my mother out of her stupor, and she looked down at her me on the carpet. She almost seemed to not know who I was.

"Wha are you still doin' here?" She slurred.

"Hungry mama, I'm really hungry" I moaned.

"You want some food? Is that wha you want, you little pain in the ass" She jumped up. "Fuck you! Don't I work hard? Don't mama deserve some time off, you little shit? And ya daddy, he's out trying to get us money right now! We shouldn't have to worry about a fuck like you, who doesn't do any thing!" She was screaming, her eyes bulging out of their sockets, spit flying from her mouth. I didn't cry, I couldn't. I wanted to, but I knew I never could.

My mother hated me. I used to be affected by this, but it no longer bothered me. No child should ever be able to say their parents hate them, and even fewer should say this and feel nothing. But I could say that.

The opposite of love isn't hate. The opposite of love is indifference, and even at that age, I felt nothing towards her, or my father. I didn't consider them my parents. Parents love you, and try to protect you, try to show you what the right thing to do is. All my parents ever taught me, was how to dispose of the evidence.

That day should have been like the billion other days, where I sat on the floor, to hungry to move. But it wasn't, and I could feel it wasn't. Their was something in the air almost, something palpable. The feeling of change. But not for the good, I could tell it wasn't for the good. My father was out looking for money, and what ever he did to get it would be illegal.

Almost as if by magic, my father re-appeared, coming through the front door. He was either drunk or drugged off his ass, wearing ratty clothes. He was twitching slightly, and his eyes were red, and watery. He looked down at me, confused.

"What are you still doin' here?" Great parents.

* * *

My "father" told us that he would have money for him and my mother by tomorrow. I wasn't surprised that they didn't mention me, they never spent money on me. At the age of eight, I had learned to steal for food and clothing better then any one else. My life was I had to do anything to stay alive, because I had no protection.

This did not do good things to me as a person. I had tried to be happy, always happy, so no one could see how much pain I was in. Something else I noticed that had happened to me. One time, when I was stealing a loaf of bread from a bakery, the baker came in and caught me. He yelled at me, and I froze. I couldn't think of anything, just all the pressure weighing down on my mind. I couldn't move an inch, to much pressure. When I fell on the ground, the guy thought I had a heart attack, so he left the room to call a doctor. The moment he was gone, so was I.

After the day I had, I wanted to collapse on my bed and never wake up. Another thing no eight year old should be able to say. Well, I would never collapse in that bed again. When I closed my eyes, I could see the walls of my room. The sagging wall paper, the boarded up window, the night light I kept plugged into the only socket in the room. I hated the darkness, the only darkness I could stand was given by my eyelids.

I didn't sleep that night. Oh, I was unconscious, but not from sleep. I heard some one enter my room, but I was scared to open my eyes. When my father entered my room, and I opened my eyes, I know something bad would happen. I didn't know what, my memory has never worked right.

When I opened my eyes, I knew something was wrong right away, but I wasn't certain at first it was a bad thing. I was in a big cement cell, with frigid air blowing through cracks in the wall. My only light came from a metal light, hanging directly above me. In front of me was a metal door. I could hear foot steps behind it. Beside the door, was a one-way intercom, which suddenly buzzed to life.

"Good morning FO91" The voice on the intercom said. I ran up to it, and began to speak.

"My name is Kenny"

"There is no need to speak into the intercom, the room has microphones, we can hear your every word" I sat back down, terrified.

"Why am I here?" Chuckling.

"We made a proposition with your parents. For monetary reward, they gave us your custody" I was only eight, but even I understood what that meant.

"T-they sold me?" I asked, bottom lip trembling. I pulled my knees in close, trying not to cry.

"Don't worry 91, it's not a bad thing" The voice was calming, but I was having none of it. "You're going to serve a greater purpose then you ever could have living with them, you'll see" The voice shut off.

"Wait, don't go!" I cried. Nothing. I dashed to the door, and started pounding on the metal. "Please, don't leave me alone!" Nothing. "Ple-e-ease" I sobbed, as I dropped to my knees, head pressed against the door. All alone.

* * *

"Greetings 91" A man in a white coat said to me, as he entered my room. Behind him were to muscular men in all black, guards. A day might have passed, but you loose all sense of time in a windowless cell.

"Why?" I rasped.

"We know your parents were both crack heads" He laughed. "Were! Well, we needed 24 hours for all drugs to drain out of your body, before we could begin your treatment" I was curled up in a ball, laying on my side. Tears had dried on the side of my face, I had cried until no tears came out and I was simply dry sobbing. I was humiliated, because their was no bath room and I had been forced to soil my self. I was thirsty, my throat bone dry.

I watched the two men in black enter the room, and pick me up, why they needed two for an eight year old is beyond me. They grabbed me by the arm, and took my limp body, feet dragging, out of the room and down a dark hall. I'm not sure how we got there, but I found my self in a large white room, like an operating room. In the center was a large white table, with several machines surrounding it, and a tray with surgical instruments

I was placed on the table, and under a huge light that made the world look fuzzy. I felt them put straps over my ankles, shoulders, and forehead. I saw the man in the white coat looking down on me. He held a small glass of liquid, that he stuck in between my lips and poured. I swallowed happily, and it tasted like apples.

"We need Dr. Knight" The man said, "She's the expert on the mental aspect of the transformation"

"Dr. Knight is busy with other projects" A new voice said. A woman in a matching coat appeared in my line of sight, she was holding a gas mask. "The mental bridge you've given him will eliminate the pokemon mind" I felt them slip the mask over my mouth. Breathing in the gas, I felt the air around me getting heavy. I couldn't move my body, couldn't see a thing, couldn't

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I realized two things right away. I was back in my cell, and I only had one arm. As I stood up woozy, I saw a mirror had been added to my little cement hell. My body was covered with a light dusting of brown fur, and their was a crescent moon in yellow fur on my forehead. My left arm was an elongated Rhyhorn horn, and my right arm had Teddiursa claws.

"A combio" I whispered. "I'm a combio" And I was trapped. With out another word, I broke down crying.

* * *

For the next month, I was put on routine. Three times a day, I was given a bowl of pokemon food and a glass of water. I was given a one-size fits all spandex out fit to wear, that lasted a weak before they came and picked it up. Every day I was lead out of my cell for combat practice with a Machop. I always lost.

Then I was taken to a room called the re-education room. There I met other combios, the only time a day I met them. Some were my age, some ten years older. They all were there for the same thing, to be strapped to desks and forced to watch government propaganda films. They were suppose to watch the films until their brains turned to mush, and they obeyed the government without question.

Finally, on the last week on the month, I began my favorite part of my routine. I was taken to a room unlike any of the others in my underground hell. I was taken to a carpeted room, with bookshelves lining one wall, and two arm chairs in the center, and a large reading lamp between them. A woman with a note pad and steel gray hair, tied up in a bun, sat in one of those chairs. She looked up at me, and smiled.

"Please, have a seat" She said, gesturing to the empty chair. I did with caution, never taking my eyes off of her. "Hi, I'm Dr. Natalie Mitchell" She said, extending her hand. I reached out with my one good hand, and shook it, careful not to cut her up.

"Why am I here?" I growled.

"I want to talk" She said, smiling. "Let's talk about your time here"

"I hate every moment here, and I'm in a living hell. My parents sold me for cash, and they turned me into a freak!" I was yelling now. "How do you think I feel?"

"I know" She was frowning now. "I'm sorry. I don't condone what they do in here, I don't. Talk to me, I know you're in pain, unload on me" I sighed, and I spent the rest of our hour unloading on her.

My life was like that for the next year. I was able to gage the passage of time by my routine, and I hated every thing except my visits to Dr. Mitchell. She listened to me, when no one else would. Most of all though, she cared about me. Every time I told her about my week, she worked hard not to cry.

After a year though, something changed. I was now regularly beating the Machop they had me fight, and I kept expecting them to get something stronger for me to fight. Instead, on the beginning of my thirteenth month, the doctor who had been in my cell on my first day came for me.

He never gave me a name, and he thought he was superior to me. He just radiated superiority. With out speaking a word to me, he snapped his fingers and two muscle men came in and grabbed me. Before I could resist, one pressed a tazer against my neck, and zapped me.

I wasn't knocked out, the Rhyhorn DNA saw to that. I went limp though, and all my muscles went dead. They dragged me back to the operating room, and once again strapped me to the white table. I couldn't speak, my jaw hung open. In a situation that gave me déjà vu, the woman in a white coat appeared above me, holding a gas mask. She strapped it around my head, and I began to loose consciousness.

"Your lucky 91" The man said, "This is the first time we're using this formula" I began to loose consciousness, "The evolution inducing formula, you're the first in the world to experience

* * *

I woke up in my cell, my head feeling like a bag of cement. The light above me was blaring, and I had to scrunch my eyes, as I looked in the mirror to see what they had done to me.

My Teddiursa claws were now the wicked sharp claws of a Ursaring. On my stomach was a yellow ring of fur, and under my fur was gray armor plates. My horn arm now looked like a drill, for a Rhydon, and I had grown a rock like tail. The biggest difference was I now stood six foot four, at nine years old.

Well, their formula worked, I had evolved. I broke down crying again.

* * *

"How can you work for these bastards?" I asked Dr. Mitchell. A hole had been drilled in the chair for my new tail, and as it thumped on the ground, our chairs both shook. Dr. Mitchell had used all of her energy not to stare at my new transformation.

"Well Kenny, they're going to do things you can't comprehend"

"Try me" I said.

"These are the people who are going to save the region" Dr. Mitchell said, although she didn't sound like she believed it. "You're going to keep our region safe from destruction"

"By kidnapping children?" I asked, "By turning them into combios? How will that help any thing"

"It's going to keep"

"There are plenty of ways to keep the region safe" I snarled. Dr. Mitchell sighed, and stood up.

"I think our session is done today"

I thought it was done as well. I had actually begun planning out my life, as a solider in a secret government project. Two days later though, my life would change drastically.

I was curled up in a ball on the floor of my cell, that was how I slept. Time was gagged in days, not in hours, so I had no idea what time it was, or even if it was day or night.

"Kenny" I heard a voice whisper. I looked up, uncertain of the voice, to see the door open, and Dr. Mitchell standing in the door way.

"Dr. Mitchell, what's going on?" She helped me to my feet, and lead me out of my cell, and through the stone corridors.

"I bribed one of the security people to shut off the cameras, and a janitor to shut off the incinerator" We came to a metal hatch in an unknown room.

"The incinerator"

"For garbage" Dr. Mitchell said. "From there, the ashes are poured into a river that runs along the fortress"

"Ashes in the water? Is that good for the pokemon?"

"Do they look like they care?" Dr. Mitchell said. She sighed, and smiled at me. "You have to get across the river quickly, water will hurt you. On the other side of the river, you'll meet a Blastoise/Gallade combio named Enjorlas. I made contact with him yesterday, and he agreed to take care of you" She opened the trash shoot, and helped me get in.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because" She said, "You're right, this isn't the way to do things. I hope to see you again" With out another word, Dr. Mitchell closed the shoot and I dropped.

* * *

"That's your story?" I asked Kenny, as I continued to drive. "It ends when you were nine?"

"Stories not over" Kenny said. "It actually continues nine years later, to a night not unlike tonight"

* * *

The town house looked like a half a dozen other houses in a row, but behind its doors, something was happening. Parked at the curb in front of it, was a black van, loaded with four of the best combio soldiers in the Combiomorph Resistance. Inside the town house was a sleeper cell of soldiers in the Human Puritan Army. The combios mission was simple, get in and harm as few people as possible.

"Well Kenny, I think this will be a disaster" Cathy said to me. Cathy had to bend over, just to fit in the van. She was a natural born combio, and an unusual Nidoqueen/Nidoking combination. One of our strongest members, she was also our group pessimist.

"Don't say that" I said. "This mission will be a success. It's a simple mission. All we have to do is go in, and escort all of the soldiers inside the house out"

"Alright, I've almost got the extra security for this house disabled" Jason said. Jason was a Rotom/Alakazam combination, and was using a laptop to access the security systems for the house and disable them.

"What ever, just get it done" Garret said. He was a Tyrouge/Magmar combination, his job was to melt down the door and any thing else that got in their way, while making as little noise as possible. Suddenly, Jason's laptop began beeping.

"Alright, we're good! Lets fry these fuckers" The van door rolled open, and the four of us moved silently (as silently as four giants can) to the town house. We moved up the stairs, where Garret pressed his Magmar hand against the door. The metal door glowed red, and then white, as it began to melt before them. Jason used psychic to keep the melted metal from touching them, and the four moved into the house.

The house was dark, but you could tell right away that it wasn't a normal house. In the living room, instead of say a couch or TV, was a security panel and a rolling chair. All of the screens on the security panel were static, courtesy of Jason. The four of them moved from the living room, into the kitchen.

"Well, look what we're cooking up here" Cathy said, as she moved to the kitchen table. On the table were several wooden bowls, filled with a gray, paste like substance. Their were wooden spoons sticking out of them, since wood can't set of a chemical reaction.

"What are they making?" I asked.

"Bombs" Cathy said. "These look like they're going to be blasting gelatin"

"Is it safe, just to leave them sitting on a table like this?"

"No, it's not" She frowned. "Something's not right" We couldn't figure what though, so we moved to the stair case. Jason moved first, careful to disarm any booby traps their might be. That's when we got some very disturbing news.

"It's clean" he whispered.

"Clean, what do you mean clean?" Garret asked. "Their has to be something"

"I'm telling you, theirs nothing. Get moving" We should have turned around right there, but we didn't. We moved up the stairs silently, until we came to the only bed room in the house. In side the room, were three bunk beds, side by side, and each bunk bed was empty.

"What on earth is this?" Cathy asked, as we moved into the room slowly. She jumped around to us, panic filling her face. "It's a trap"

"It can't be a trap"

"I'm telling you, it is" As she spoke those words, the back wall of the room rolled back, to reveal a secret chamber. In the chamber, were three HPA soldiers, holding assault rifles. I dove to the ground, as they opened fire. The others weren't as lucky.

I tried not to think about my friends. My friends who were lying dead around me, blasted to pieces. Instead, I thought about killing those HPA bastards. I rushed at the one on the far left, and thrust my claws into his side. I used this force to slam him into the center HPA solider. The one on the right turned, but before he could fire, I drilled my horn into his leg. He screamed, as he passed out on the ground from pain.

"Fuck you" I snarled. I turned around, to see a wooden baseball bat slam into my face.

* * *

The last thing I saw were wood splinters, mixed with blood drops, flying away from my face. I was actually a little amazed, because I didn't know that they still made wooden baseball bats. I stumbled back, as the world turned white (The world goes white, not black when you get a head injury). My legs went limped, and I collapsed on the ground.

The next thing I know, I feel a tightness around my neck, and the world is dark. I feel something on my fur, something scratchy, and I can hear muffled voices. Suddenly, I feel a hand grip the bag around my head, and yank it off. I have to squint under the harsh light.

In front of me, is a man with cold eyes. He's wearing a button up white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and a tie around the neck. He also wears glasses, and has a small moustache. His eyes are cold, and at the same time, they seem to be laughing at me. In his left hand is a squirt gun.

Behind him is a door with a small window. There is nothing else in the room, not a table or a chair. All of the walls are stone, and the one I'm touching is damp. I'm secured to the wall by a metal ring around my neck, and one around my right wrist. My horn couldn't do a thing to brake these, they're solid.

"Do you know who I am?" The man with cold eyes asked. I shook my head. "I'm Mr. Lyn. I'm a member of the HPA" He smiled. "As a combio, you are a prisoner here. Since I know combios are by nature dense, I'll keep my explanation brief.

"Yes, the house you attacked was a set up house. Our men were supposed to capture the four of you, but they got over zealous"

"Oh God, did I kill them"

"No, you didn't" Lyn said, salivating as he spoke. "I was given that pleasure my self. Oh no, the only thing you did was get captured. Now, you're going to give us something" Lyn turned serious. "We need to find the combiomorph compound in Kanto. We know that you know where it is. I want you to tell me"

"Fuck you" Lyn squirted a stream of water right at my fur. The water passed through it, and hit the Rhydon armor beneath. I screamed in agony.

"Where is your compound?"

"Up your ass" I spat. He squirted, I screamed.

"Where is it?"

"Bend over, I'll show you" He squirted, I screamed. Lyn walked over, and looked me straight in the eye.

"I know these methods wont work" He snapped the squirt gun in two, and tossed the pieces away. "Your body is immune to pain. Lets see how your soul does" Lyn snapped his fingers. The door to the room opened, and two people rolled a TV on a stand in. Lyn went and turned the TV on.

"What is this?" I asked. The image on the screen was of a clear glass box, with something lining the bottom, something shiny.

"This, is the red box" Lyn said. "A rather ingenious torture device, ingenious in its simplicity" He rolled the TV closer to me, so I could get a batter view. The box had a lock on the top. It was lined on the bottom with big chunks of glass.

"I don't understand" Lyn giggled.

The human body is an amazing machine. It can take massive damage, and heal its self, loose half its blood and survive! At the same time, it's incredibly fragile. A shallow cut in the right place, can turn this amazing machine into a pile of scrap. The right vein or artery cut, it's rather amazing. That's how the red box works" Lyn smiled. "And look, our subject has arrived"

"How did you find her?" I asked. On the screen, two men dragged a very unconscious Dr. Mitchell into the room. One had a key, which he used to open the top of the box. They then carefully set her inside, before locking the box. "What are you doing?"

"Now, the smart thing to do would be not to move" Lyn said. "The glass will jab, but it wont get the chance to cut" Dr. Mitchell's eyes bulged open. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, as she began to squirm in the box. "That's the smart thing to do, people aren't smart. People are panicky and stupid. Every movement she makes, the more the glass on the bottom will cut.

"It's called the red box, because it will be dyed red, as every drop of blood drains out of her body. Until glass chunks float in a river of her own blood" Lyn was sweating as he spoke. "I'll give you the chance to save her. All you have to do is tell me where the combio compound is. A person will bleed to death in about sixty seconds in the red box"

"Fuck you" I snarled, but my voice was wavering. Dr. Mitchell was pounding with less energy. The bottom of the box was turning red, and the back sides of her arms were dripping. The top and sides of the box were smeared with blood.

"I'd give her thirty seconds" Lyn said.

"STOP IT" I roared.

"Tell me" Lyn yelled, "Tell me or she dies" Dr. Mitchell was going limp. My eyes blurred with tears.

"Stop" I yelled. "They're in northern Kanto, in the mountain range that separates Kanto from Sinnoh. Now let Dr. Mitchell out"

"Alright, you win" Lyn pressed a button on the TV, and the image suddenly began to fast foreword. "This footage was taken a day ago, you really are stupid enough to believe any thing" Lyn shut off the TV, and began to roll it out the door.

"Wait, what about me?!" I cried.

"What about you?" He asked, before closing the door. I looked at the door a second, before I broke down sobbing. I had doomed the combio resistance in Kanto, and their was nothing I could do. On top of that, I was left to rot in a stone cell.

_Hello Kenny_ A voice said. I looked up, to see a Gardevoir standing before me.

"Who are you?" The Gardevoir's eyes glowed, and suddenly, I found my self released from the wall. I stood up carefully, and the Gardevoir put it's hand on my head. In a white flash, we vanished from the room, and re-appeared in a room filled with filling cabinets.

_It's that cabinet_ The Gardevoir said, pointing to one cabinet in the center of the room. The top drawer flew open, as I went over to examine it. _Grab the first one you touch, it'll be the right one_. I pulled one file out at random, not one hundred percent sure what was happening. _Give it to Enjorlas._

"Why are you doing this?"

_I'm taking you back to the compound._ In another flash, we vanished. When we re-appeared, I was standing up to my ankles in snow, In front of me was a large cement building, the combiomorph resistance compound. The Gardevoir turned to me, I think it was smiling.

_You're going to do great things Kenny._

"But, I still don't understand" But it was to late, Gardevoir was gone.

* * *

"And that's what happened Enjorlas" I said to our combio leader in his office. He nodded, face filled with stress.

"Alright, the HPA knows where we are. That's bad, but not the end of the world. We have to prepare" Enjorlas noticed the file in my hand. "Where did you get that?"

"I don't know" I said, as I handed him the file. "I was teleported into a room by the Gardevoir, a file room. She gave me this file, and told me to give it to you" I shrugged. "Do with it what you want. Enjorlas flipped the file open, and began to read quickly.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No"

"It's financial information" Enjorlas murmured. "It's information that proves the government of Kanto is funding the HPA" My stomach dropped.

"The government, that created me?"

"Is now trying to destroy you" Enjorlas flipped the file shut. "The know you escaped, and they know the file vanished. They'll be looking for you, we need to get you away"

"Yeah, but how?"

"Leave that up to me"

* * *

Enjorlas teleported me to Viridian city. We re-appeared in front of a small hotel, called the Chessmen Inn.

"We're on the edge of Viridian city" Enjorlas said. "To the west is the four hundred mile woods, that separate Kanto from Johto. This hotel is run by our transport unit" The two of us knocked on the front door.

"Hello Enjorlas" A combiomorph said, opening the door. She was an Armaldo/Magnezone combio. She looked me up and down. "Whose the meat?"

"Kenny" Enjorlas said, gesturing to me. "We need you to transport him to the drop point"

"Alright, no problem"

"Wait, don't I have a choice in this?"

"No" They said in unison. Enjorlas sighed, and turned to me.

"Carmen will be a good guard for you, she'll keep you safe. Respect her"

"I will" Enjorlas nodded, and in a flash, he vanished.

"I hope you have iron clad feet kid" Carmen said to me, "It's a long walk"

* * *

"So, Carmen shut down the hotel, got supplies for us, and we took off" Kenny said. "And here we are"

"Here you are" I mumbled, drumming on my steering wheel.

"That's not the whole story" Emma said to me, "And you know it isn't. They left out the fact that some one tried to shoot at them with a snipers riffle yesterday"

"They don't need to know" I mumbled, as I reached for something in the passengers seat. As I did, both Carmen and Kenny noticed something.

"Uh, Gabriel?"

"Yeah"

"What's that on your palm?" I flipped my hand over.

"Oh this?" I asked, holding it up for them to get a good look. "This is the tattoo I got the day I joined the HPA. The gold band around the edge means I've killed at least one hundred combiomorphs" Before they could re-act, I slammed the brakes and jerked the steering wheel hard.


	3. Third Story, Pt 1

**AN : **Due to the sheer length of this story, I'm dividing it into two parts. Thank you pikachuhunter1 and Lady of DarkFire for reviewing.

**Three Stories**

_The Third Story_

I am not a good person.

I have no illusions that I am a good person, no misconceptions that deep down I am genuinely good. People are naturally evil, and I believe combios are also naturally evil. They just have a reason to fight that instinct. They want to be good, just to fight the belief that they want to destroy the world and all things decent. I however, wanted to destroy all things decent. My pain was constant and sharp, and I don't want a better world for any one. Rather, I want my pain inflicted on all people, the pain of losing the one thing most precious to them.

Every thing I did, I did for Emma. Emma was my reason for living, and what gave my life hope. Until I met her, I thought I was a failure, I thought no one honestly cared. Emma changed every thing. I loved her smile, her laugh, her green eyes (she was born with brown, but had a treatment to turn them green. I didn't care either way). Look at my life after Emma. I'm a murderer, with out an identity. The HPA erased all proof of my existence, down to my finger prints (burned off with lye).

Who was it was better to have known love and lost, then to have never loved at all? Who ever they were was full of shit. You know what it feels like to loose the person who is most precious to you? Do you know that feeling of pain and emptiness? No feeling can ever compare, no misery is so extreme. You have to fill the void with something, or you'll end up destroying your self. Some people go into binge drinking. Some move on with their lives.

I killed people

* * *

Alright, now where were we? Oh right, Carmen and Kenny had just found out I was an HPA killer, and I decided to spin my car out of control.

Every thing was flung, all of the stuff in my passenger seat, and my passengers who were to big to wear seatbelts. Only I was secure, and I was in control. My gun flew over my head, and I grabbed it with my free arm. I steadied the car, and hit the brakes hard, causing the car to jerk to a stop.

Carmen and Kenny were piled on top of each other in the back of the car. They struggled to get back up, but by the time they had pulled them selves back into their seats, I already had the gun aimed at Kenny's head. Carmen thrust her blade out, and pressed it against my throat.

"You could try to cut my throat, but by the time you were half finished, I will have killed you both six times. But, I have no interest in killing you" I tossed my gun to Kenny. He cough my gun, and held it at my head. Kennys' arm was wavering though, and I knew he wasn't certain of what to do.

"Don't worry, I'm completely unarmed. Big bad HPA man, with out a weapon on him. Well, it's true. I've got no interest in killing either of you, just in getting you two to your destination" I grinned. "Well, I do want one other thing. I want to tell you a story, my story. If you listen, after I finish, I'll give you the chance to kill me again. Will you listen?" They looked at each other. I don't think Carmen or Kenny could believe their luck.

"You're going to tell them our story?" Emma asked, "Don't you think that would open up a can of worms?"

"I'm not telling our whole story" I reminded her, "What happened with you and the government is of no importance. I'll tell what happened over the last few years"

"When you joined the HPA?" Tears stung my eyes, and I tried hard not to cry.

"Yeah, when I joined the HPA. I'm sorry Emma, I really am"

"You know I'll forgive you" Emma said. "Tell them your story" I nodded, and cleared my throat.

"My story begins several years ago. It's all about a woman named, Emma"

* * *

"In world news today" The clock radio buzzed as the clock turned to 7:00 a.m., "Leader Janice Abignale vowed to help the cause in fighting the HPA" I let out a groan, as I turned over slightly, brushing against the figure laying on her back.

"These hateful cowards have hidden for long enough" Abignale said, "It is time for us to take a stand against them, for all people to rise up against them"

"Whose Janice Abignale?" I groaned.

"Our glories new leader" The figure said in a sleepy voice.

"Whose the HPA?"

"Hate group that's been around since God knows when, and kills any thing they want"

"Why is the radio on?"

"Because we have to get up"

"Really?" I whined. She laughed.

"Yeah, we do" I sighed, and rolled onto my side. Opening my eyes, I smiled at the black haired woman beside me. Slowly, I reached over, and brushed some of the hair out of her face. She opened her eyes, and smiled.

"Morning" Emma said. "What's on the agenda today?"

"Sit around the office, pretend being a PI makes money" I said, "Encourage you to stay on off your feet all day long, and not go into your studio"

"I need to go in" Emma said, "It makes me feel at peace. I like working, it takes my mind off of other things" Like the world on fire.

"Why do you need your mind off of things?" I asked. Looking down at her bulging belly, I smiled. "Four more weeks. You should keep your mind on that"

"I promise, next week I stay here all day" Emma said, "But it's not like I'm going across the world, I'm going down stairs!"

"And if something happens?" Emma laughed.

"Gabe, I'm the one whose pregnant, and you're the one I'm worried about. You are so nervous" She let out another laugh, "Well, we should be a little nervous, having a child at our age"

"Our age? You make me feel so old"

"The average human life expectancy is 140, the last thing we could be considered is old" Emma said. Her eyes turned sympathetic. "You don't have any reason to be anxious. You need to be like me"

"In hard-core denial?" Laughing.

"Ecstatically happy. Uncontrollably happy. Happy beyond words, at what is currently happening" Now she was crying a little. "You know, in four weeks, we're going to have a baby girl? We're going to have a baby?"

"We're going to have a baby" I said, now crying myself.

_We're going to have a baby_

* * *

Home was a duplex in a toxic waist part of the city. Me and Emma had used what little money we had to buy it, and convert the downstairs into Emmas' studio. Both the down and upstairs were small, only having two rooms. In the upstairs, we had me and Emmas' bedroom/bathroom/closet and our living room/kitchen/dining nook. It was small, and the place was always cold. Even in summer, it was freezing cold. None of the rooms had carpeting, but a kind of bare wood that was probably infested, and one day we would fall through.

God I loved that place.

Of course, the place was built during a time when smoking was good for soothing your throat, and a little lead paint never hurt any one. When we had our child, we would have to figure out something. No one would buy that place, burning it down would have been the best solution, had it not been for the buildings on both sides of us. What we would have done, I don't know. We lived every day like it was our last, since we both knew nothing was guaranteed.

At least, I thought I knew that.

I fixed us breakfast, like I did every morning. I could cook, something Emma could not. She had one time tried to make toast, but grabbed a kitchen sponge that was beside the bread, and stuck it in the toaster. It was a small fire, not even worth calling the police, and I was able to get it out with minimal damage. It cost me a very nice toaster though, a casualty of Emmas' cooking.

"So, no clients today?" Emma asked, as I sat a plate of food down in front of her, before sitting down my self. I can't eat breakfast, when I wake up I always feel like I'm going to throw up. I never could figure out why.

"Yep, shocking I know" I said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Worlds greatest detective and all that. But, you never know, I might get something" Of course, to get clients, you had to be good at what you do.

"Well, you could choose not to go to work" Emma said, "Stay at the studio all day with me" I was tempted. "You know, if I weren't pregnant, this would work a lot better. All I would have to do is say naked, and you would do it"

"As tempting as that is" I said, and trust me, it was tempting, "I can't do it. I have to at least sit in the office, keep up the impression that I'm good at what I do" Emma smiled.

"Gabe, you are the best private investigator you know"

"I'm the only one you know"

"Well, that's not true"

"Oh really?" I asked, laughing.

"Yeah, I'm seeing the guy with the really big office in the center of town" Emma said, "This is his baby. But don't worry, he's no good in the sack" I laughed, as I stood up. I kissed Emma on the forehead.

"Elvis Cole has got to go" I said, "I'll be back at lunch"

"I'm looking foreword to it" I smiled, and took one linger glance before walking out the door. That was the last time I saw Emma alive.

* * *

I wanted to be a private investigator since I was ten years old. I learned to read when I was four, and by the time I was ten I was reading on a college level (one of only two things I ever excelled at). Reading fills time when there is nothing in your life, but reading can't provide substance. I discovered you have to create your own substance to be happy.

I was born in a family of two parents who were ultra-rich. We had a fleet of servants, people to do every thing for you down to going to the bathroom. We had houses in the triple digits, but our main one was the size of a small country. It had over two hundred rooms, and this was a problem because it was easy to get lost. My parents had guests over one time, and they got lost in our house for three days. We found them using the GPS in their cell phones, and they had to be air-lifted away due to dehydration.

People assume having money is a good thing, but it isn't. Money is empty, shallow, and pointless. You can't take it with you, and money robs you of one of life's greatest joys. Anticipation, one of the greatest presents of life, taken away by to much money. When money is no object, you can have anything.

The problem is, when people have that much money, they tend to burn out on the inside and the outside. If you can have anything, what do you have to look foreword to? This leads to a new kind of misery, one that money can't fix, and people try to fix through alcohol or sex. These aren't fixes, they're buzzes. A buzz will last for a few hours, and as long as it lasts, you'll be on top of the world, absolute euphoria. Then, you will crash hard, and end up in worst shape then you were before. My parents were perfect examples.

They weren't bad people, just foolish. You want to know something? Gabriel wasn't my birth name, the one my parents gave me. My birth name was, oh God, Thespian Barclay. My parents liked the words. It was little stuff like that, they wanted desperately to care about me, but they were incapable of thinking about anything but them selves. It was that thinking that caused them to put them selves in the ground when I was sixteen.

They believed that because of money, they were entitled to a genius child. They hired tutors for me when I turned four, to teach me Monday through Friday. The only thing I picked up right off the bat was reading. I never grasped the rest of what they taught me. I hated those stupid tutors, and Saturday became my favorite day. When my parents left me alone, allowing me to do what ever I wanted. On one Saturday, I went into our library. I could read any book just about, I couldn't grasp what they were about, but I knew the words.

Well, on this Saturday, I was miserable. I had asked my parents for a pokemon, something to keep me company. They said pokemon spread disease. I said that was crazy, they said oh well. So, I decided to retreat into reading, the only escape I could find. Looking over the polished shelves of our library, I realized most of these books were bought because they were expensive, not because my parents had any hope of reading them. One book though was different, one book stood out.

It was a first edition of The Maltese Falcon. It had a picture of a black bird and a hand holding some gold on the cover. It was old and tattered, but for some reason, it cried out to me. I took it to my room, and read it in two hours. After I finished, I knew I had to be a private investigator. I had no choice, I had to be one. It was like a force possessed me. I dreamt of being Same Spade, Phillip Marlow, Mike Hammer, having adventures like them. What a great force it was.

I told my parents my dreams. They said they would never allow it. Then, six years later, they died and it didn't matter what they approved. Eh, I would have done what I wanted anyways, it didn't matter what they thought.

I lived with the money until I was eighteen. I heard a story that year, about a girl who had been molested by her uncle since she was six. She killed him and was put on trial for his murder. I paid for a lawyer to get her off, then gave her my money. I figured she could use it better then me. I then got a fire arms permit, and my private investigator licensee.

I rented a small office only a few blocks from our duplex. I used it my entire career. I suspected the people in the office next to me might have been drug dealers. Their was only one room, that held my desk, chair, filling cabinets, and a chair for clients. When I unlocked my office door that day, my office was empty, like it had been for awhile now. Sitting on my desk, was a very old pokeball.

"Awe fuck" I moaned, "Bronz, I'm so sorry" I rushed over to the pokeball, and released the pokemon inside. Instantly, a Bronzor appeared, and it was pissed.

"Look, in my defense" It fired a gyro ball straight at me. I ducked, and the ball flew over my head and out my front door. "Okay, maybe I don't have a defense" Bronz used confusion to lift me off the ground, and slam me against the ceiling a few times, before dropping me. I let out a groan, as I flipped on my back. Bronz came over and hovered above my head. "All forgiven?"

Bronz nodded, as best a six-sided metal plate can. Bronz was the best pokemon a private investigator can have. I had captured him three years ago, and he had been my partner of sorts, although only my name went on the business cards. A pokemon who works with a PI needs to be small, so it can hide easily, and it needs to be psychic, it just works better that way. Bronz fulfilled both of those, and since he was steel type, he can deflect a bullet for me if necessary. Being my partner, I agreed to not put him in a pokeball for extended periods of time. The problem was, I frequently forgot and left him in one over night. When I let him out, he would proceed to kick my ass.

"Alright" I said, as I closed my door, "It's time for another exciting day in the life of the worlds greatest detective" On my desk was a phone and a TV. I plopped down in my chair, and flicked the TV on. "You know, no one grasps how hard this job is. Not every one can do it" Bronz nodded.

* * *

Emma continued to kneed clay in a bowl, wanting to get it completely smooth before shaping it. Around her were shelves of pottery, and in the back room of her studio was a kiln. In the front of the studio was one counter, where a dusty cash register sat.

Technically, Emmas' job was making pottery for people to buy. It was only technically a job though if people bought what you sold. No one bought what Emma made, except me. I would have bought it all, if given the chance. Emma never wanted to do anything else though. Making pottery was for her, an escape. It was creating something new out of something old, improving on lumps of dirt.

"I do the same thing as before" Emma muttered to her self, "But I don't change people" Emma didn't want to think about her past, this "job" allowed her to forget about what she had been, and the horrible things she had done. Now, instead of creating weapons, she created beautiful things, although sometimes memories of the past popped up.

Once, Emma made a sculpture. A small clay thing, that she sculpted during the night in a frenzy of inspiration. The statue ended up being the best thing she ever made It had been the sculpture of a small boy, a combiomorph. The morph was a Delcatty and Sableye combination, and the boy couldn't have been much older then six. Emma called it Java, and couldn't bear to part with it. I bought it, and it was currently displayed in our living room.

Every time Emma looked at it, when I wasn't around, she cried. She thought I didn't know, but one time I walked in on her. I slipped out before Emma could see me, but I knew what the statue meant. I knew what it was, and I knew we could never truly escape what it was. What the statue meant would haunt us for the rest of our lives, and what it meant would hunt Emma down that day. What Emma had done had decided to come back for her that day.

A bell tinkled, the sound made when ever some one opened the front door to Emmas' studio. Emma didn't even look up to see who it was, but she could hear three sets of foot steps. "I'll be with you in a minute"

"We would like to buy a sculpture" One voice, masculine said.

"Take a look at what you want, I'll be with you in a second"

"We already know what we want" A female voice said, "And we want you to help us now, Dr. Knight" Emma looked up at this.

"W-what did you call me?"

"We'll take this one" A third voice, much more sinister said. As Emma turned to see the three, a small statue was slammed against the side of her head.

* * *

"Well, it's twelve o-clock" I said, "And we have achieved nothing. I think we deserve a break for lunch, don't you Bronz?" Bronz made a metallic sound. "I agree, we've worked hard, we need a break" Okay, I was the worst PI in the world. I could live with that.

I made it to the house in record time, Bronz floating beside my head. Maybe I knew something was wrong, maybe that was why I walked as fast as I did. When I got to our duplex, the front door was open. I should have known something then, but I dismissed it as nothing.

"Emma" I called as I nudged the door open. The studio was destroyed. All of the shelves holding Emmas' sculptures and statues were turned over, every clay thing smashed and destroyed. "Oh my God" I slowly stepped over shelves and crunched on broken clay, moving slowly to the kiln room. Laying beside the kiln, was a very badly burned and bloody body. Emma, my Emma.

Oh God.

* * *

You never realize that life is a certain thing, but a series of connected changes. At any moment, your entire life can be thrown on its head, by something you never saw coming. I don't mind it though, I love each one of those little changes. Because, eventually I will reach the final change in my life, the ultimate.

The change that Emma had reached. That my unborn daughter had experienced before birth.

The police and some crime tech people were examining Emmas' studio I suppose, I was barely aware of their presence. They occasionally spoke to me, asked me questions, I couldn't give them an answer. They took me to police headquarters, I guess they interrogated me. I remember none of it, just a blur, until one lone cop came in, holding a file.

"I'm sorry about this Mr. Stryker, and we are all very sorry for your loss"

"What do you know about loss?" I mumbled. I had been given a cup of coffee when I first came in, and it had long since gone cold. I dipped my finger in, and swirled it around, distorting my dark reflection in it.

"But we might have information on your wives' killers. This got my full attention. I jumped out of my seat, knocking the coffee over in the process. It spilled all over my table and onto my pants, but I didn't notice.

"Who is it. You-you have to tell me, who is it?" I was on the verge of tears, my legs were shaking, to weak to hold my body up. At the same time, their was a rage inside of me, so strong I was afraid I might attack the cop in front of me.

"We have a witness"

"Who, damn it"

"Whose identity we will keep secret" The detective sighed, and continued. "The witness identified three combiomorphs entering your wives' studio. Since we were able to determine time of death occurring with in an hour of you calling us, we believe these three combiomorphs murdered your wife. Also, three sets of foreign footprints were found, conceding with this theory"

"Combiomorphs?" I asked, not believing the words my self. It was impossible, Emma did what ever she could to help them. She volunteered in shelters for destitute combios, hell she had a few of them live with us from time to time. It wasn't possible.

"Do you have any idea why they would want to kill your wife?" Your wife, not Emma. Don't personalize the victim. Isn't that what the police believe? Yeah, well she is very personnel to me, and every time they didn't refer to Emma by name, it brought my blood to a boil.

"No, I have no idea" I have every fucking idea in the world, why don't you do your job and dig a little deeper. You're a cop, a fucking cop. You should no why they would want to kill her, not me.

"Are you sure?"

"If I knew, wouldn't I tell you?" The police had nothing more to say, and soon I was released.

* * *

Emma wasn't from Kanto, but actually born in New Bark Town, although she was raised somewhere else. Emma had requested, on her death, her body be buried in a family plot, near the Johto border. The plot also had a reserved area for her spouse (me), upon my death.

The funeral had been beyond small, just me, a priest, and the grave diggers. Even after they covered her wooden, and rather flimsy, coffin with dirt, I stayed at the grave, looking at her tombstone.

"Beloved Emma" I read to my self, "Loving wife, gone to early. We have all the time in the world" Behind her stone, was a miniscule marker. On it, I read "Baby girl Stryker. Taken pure" Pure, what the fuck do they know about pure?

My life was over. I was at the lowest I had ever been. If I had been at my house, I would have taken a gun, and put a bullet through my brain. Lonely, I was so lonely. At the same time, I was mad! Of all things I was mad at Emma, which is insane. Yet, I felt like she deserted me! I know now it was just my way of coping with the pain, but still.

I dropped to the ground on Emmas' grave. I traced her name slowly, and I thought about how I met her. I had been hired to follow a man, suspected of cheating by his wife. I knew that he regularly rented rooms at the luxurious Pressmen Hotel, so all I had to do was follow the man until he entered a room where a sluty girl would be waiting. Sounds easy right?

Well, I ended up loosing the guy, and following some one else. In my defense, the back of his head was very similar, until I remembered the guy I was supposed to be following was bald. Well anyways, I ended up following him into a tall white building, that I thought was the hotel. I didn't notice the hotel had a lack of bell boys, the lobby had no carpeting, and the sign out front said "Government Research, Division D"

After I went through a metal detector, I began to catch on to the fact this wasn't a hotel. I was humiliated beyond words, but before I could turn to leave, a woman bumped into me. Figuring she might know where I was, I was about to ask her for directions, when I noticed she was crying. I stopped to ask her what was wrong. She looked at me, and exploded.

Sobbing into my shoulder, I had to sit down just to calm her down. Emma was able to stop long enough just to ask me my name, and for her to tell me hers. Emma unloaded that she was miserable, that she had ruined the life of her best friend, and turned him into a solider. While I was consoling her, I noticed a face in a window to the main office. It was a boy, with red-purple fur, and features like a Delcatty! Now I was the one freaking out, and Emma had to restrain me. She talked me out of going to see what it was, and actually had me believing I had seen something!

Now, at the time combiomorphs were know, but not widely known. Most people had no idea what they were. After the government's project became public knowledge, and the HPA went into overdrive, combiomorphs became a part of public life. Amazing, isn't it?

I didn't see Emma for a while. The next time I saw her, she had left the government project, except I didn't know that. You see, Emma had been Dr. Emma Knight, who worked with combiomorphs made by the government, and even helped in the pokemon selection process. Emma never talked about her past, until I pieced it together, and even then she only mentioned it sparingly. I figured it out when the information on the government project went public, and building D had been the one I first met her in. Actually, telling her I had figured it out was good for both of us.

Emma cried about it, although she told me little about her life. That night was one of my favorite memories, as I comforted Emma, and she realized how deeply that I loved her. It was our third date, and I confessed my love. We ended up, consummating our relationship. In the morning, I asked Emma to marry me, and she agreed. We married fast, moved into the duplex, and shortly after, Emma found out she was pregnant.

"My entire life, destroyed" I mumbled. "Every thing I had, destroyed. My life is over, I have nothing to live for" The sun had almost set, and I noticed it for the first time. I shrugged, and headed out. I had a car waiting to take me to Violet City, and a plane ride home.

* * *

The next week passed in a flash. I have no full memories, just little snippets. I remember getting back home, and staring at our empty bedroom. I might have been crying, I'm not sure. I also remember taking that statue Emma made, but not what happened to it after that. At some point in time, I went to my office, where I had stored Bronzs' pokeball. Finally, I remember looking at a message spray painted on a cement wall. The message was "Combios come, the earth burns", the building was the police station. I was there to pick up the one thing they could give me from Emma that wasn't evidence.

After that, I wondered around aimlessly. I could never go back to our duplex, it was tainted. I had taken my gun and the statue, they could have every thing else. It was taking all of my energy not to stick my gun under my chin, nothing really mattered any more. Every where I walked, I saw combiomorphs. Combiomorphs on the street, in couples, looking at me, mocking me. They flaunted Emmas' murder in my face, and I hated them so much. The anger was unnatural, an unbridled force, and I knew it would never go away until all people burned.

Eventually, I realized it was two a.m., and my legs were sagging from lack of energy. Although it had only been a couple of weeks since Emma died, it seemed like years, and the entire time had been like an out-of-body experience. I heard no sounds, except my feet pounding on the side walk, and I was sick of it. I needed to find other people fast, and no combiomorphs. If I saw one, I would kill it, and have a lot of fun doing it. Gosh, I was a really sick bastard, wasn't I? Oh well, hind sight is twenty-twenty.

I found an all night dinner that had a sign reading "Combios not allowed". I sat down at a booth, and a waitress came over, maybe asking me what I wanted. I croaked out "Coffee", before collapsing my head into my hands.

"Why Emma, why you?"

"I think you know" Emma said. I looked up, and there she sat across from me. She was smiling, and she looked more beautiful then I ever remembered her. An angelic light framed her black hair, and her eyes flashed from brown to green, the way I remember.

"They had no reason to kill you" I said, "Even if three of them tracked you down, three of the combiomorphs you helped create, they had no right to kill you. You spent every day of your life punishing your self for your time with the government"

"You're right, no combio would have had the right" Emma said, "And you don't have the right to do the things to combiomorphs that you're dreaming about doing. You have to be the bigger person, you'll be rewarded in the next life"

"I don't want to wait for the next life" I snarled, "I want to have fun in this life. You know what would be fun for me? Revenge. White hot vengeance poured out on all combiomorphs"

"Here's your coffee" The waitress said, snapping me back to reality. She gave me a look, before asking "Were you speaking to some one"

"Of course, can't you see" I asked, gesturing to the empty seat. The waitress gave me another look, before walking off, muttering something about crazy. Yeah, well fuck her.

"Excuse me, Gabriel Stryker?" I groaned, and looked up, to see a man and woman standing there. They both had concerned looks on their faces, but they were dressed in identical black over coats, and for a moment I wondered if they were in a cult. "We wish to speak to you, may we sit down?" Well, I wanted human contact, I got it. I gestured at the empty seat, and they two scooted in. Emma now appeared beside me.

"Who are you?" Now they smiled in unison, both of them very creepy.

"We are people who are going to give your like meaning Gabriel, may I call you Gabriel?" Yep, definitely a cult.

"No, as a matter of fact, you may not" They continued to smile, but both smiles looked strained. Making them uncomfortable made me smile.

"Well Gab, uh, Mr. Stryker, we have an offer for you"

"We know of your recent loss" The woman said, "And we can't begin to express how sorry we are for you"

"So sorry" Condescending assholes. I bet they didn't even know Emmas' name.

"But, we may be able to help you. We know combiomorphs killed your wife, and they should not go unpunished. We want to help you get revenge"

"Revenge? Really?" I asked, not believing it, but secretly hoping. Sometimes God just dumps blessings in your lap.

"If you agree to listen to us" The man said, "We need you to agree that any thing we say here goes no where. Agree?"

"Agreed. Tell me every thing"

"Well, we are an organization that believes combiomorphs are a blasphemy to the human race" The woman said. "We wish to purify the human race, by any means"

"Any means?" I asked. Before they could move, I flipped out my Browning Buck Mark, barrel barely visible over the edge of the table. From this angle, I could blow their brains out their foreheads. "Show me your palms" The two both lifted their hands, both revealing eight-sided stars. The womanize had a silver band around the edge, and all said HPA. "Human puritan army huh? What do you freaks want?"

"Freaks? If I remember correctly, you agreed to hear us out and tell no one, meaning you must at least partially agree with our philosophy" I growled, and lowered my gun. The woman smirked. Bitch. "Well, we've come to give you the chance to join us"

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because, the police aren't going to look for the men who killed your wife" She said, "And they have restrictions. We do not. If you join us, we will not only find us, you will be given the chance to personally exact your revenge" My blood began to boil, adrenaline and excitement pumping through my veins.

"I-I don't know, I'll have to think about it" I said, as I got up. Before I could leave, the woman grabbed my arm.

"Here, take my card" She said, "So you can call me. My name is Natalie" I nodded, took the card, and ran into the night.

* * *

The next day, I rented a pick-up truck, bought a few bales of hay, a large paper bulls-eye, and went back to my duplex for the last time, picking up a pair of binoculars, and a long wooden box marked GS, with gold letters. Remember how I said I was good at two things? Well, the box contained the second. I then drove out of the city, a mile out of city limits, until I came to a large field, about ten miles in area.

Starting on the edge of the field, I drove until I had gone 1.5 miles. This would be where I started. I got out of my truck, and pulled out the hay, all but one bale. I set it up, one bale on top of another, and attached the paper bulls-eye. "Alright, I need to know" I closed my truck, made a U-turn, and returned to the edge of the field. I set up the last bale on its side, before opening the box.

Inside was a McMillian TAC-50 snipers riffle. This had been the riffle of choice for Corporal Rob Furlong, who currently held the longest confirmed sniper kill, at 1.509 miles. No one had ever beaten it, and I wouldn't even if I made the target.

The second thing I was good at was shooting. I was an expert marksman, even then, and I could shoot just about any thing. I went to the shooting range regularly, firing a gun was my stress reliever. In hind sight, I realize I might have been better suited in a career as a hit man then a PI.

I lined up the target in the cross-hairs, the target looking like a white square, the black lines having been blurred, and fired. The binoculars revealed I had hit the hay bale, no target.

"Why are you doing this?" Emma asked me, sitting down beside me.

"I need a way to get revenge" I snarled, before firing again. This one hit the target, on the bottom edge.

"He who talks to long, forgets his listener" Emma said.

"Basho?"

"Steed. It means, if you let revenge control you, you'll forget who you want to get revenge on" I fired again, and missed completely. I screamed in frustration. The snapping of a twig caused me to flip on my back, snipers riffle dropped, and Browning withdrawn. Looking up at me was a Rattatata, shaking like a paint mixer. Peaking out behind it was another one, this one I guessed was female.

"Well, at least your happy, now get lost" I said. The two didn't need to be told twice, running away as fast as their legs would carry them. Sighing, I returned to the target.

"You're tormented, why is that Gabe?" Emma asked.

"It's just" Now I was beginning to cry, "I'm so confused. I just, I don't what to do"

"You're going to do great things Gabe" She whispered, bending over and kissing me on the cheek, "I promos" I fired again. This time, the bullet hit right above the bulls-eye, a kill shot. With this, I let go of the riffle, flipped back over, and reached into my pocket. In my pocket were three things, Natalies' card, a cell phone, and a personal item. Flipping the phone, I dialed Natalies' number.

"I'm ready"

"Good, we'll meet you tonight at the parking lot of the dinner where we met you, come tonight"

* * *

It was eleven when I got to the dinner. I was one of only two cars in the parking lot, the other being a white van. I shut off the engine, and my cell phone rang.

"How did you get my number?" I asked.

"It's not important. You see the white van?"

"Yes"

"Get in the passengers side" I shrugged, shut off the phone, got out of the truck, and went over to the van. Natalie was sitting in the drivers side.

"Now what?" Before she could respond, some one shoved a bag over my head, and I felt something slam onto my skull.

* * *

The next thing I know was light, light burning into my skull. My brain felt like some one was stabbing a long blade into it. My body felt numb at first, before it began to burn. I was in a room, a metal room, with many bright lights on the ceiling. I was on a stretcher, strapped to it.

"Hello Gabriel" Natalie said, as she bent over me. "Are you comfortable?"

"No" I rasped.

"Well, I'm very, very sorry. I truly am Gabriel. First, you loose your wife, and then you get kidnapped, it's been a bad few days. Do not worry, it will get better" I felt her undoing the straps, and she helped me sit up. "We had to examine you, make sure you were in good shape"

"And am I?" Natalie shrugged.

"What we need you for, you'll be mostly stationary" She hopped up beside me. "We know about your skills with a fire arm Gabriel. We know about your vendetta against the combiomorphs. We want to help you harness these abilities, we want to mold you into a weapon. An assassin, who will help us with our war on the combios" I nodded.

"Alright, tell me more" Natalie smiled.

"If you agree, you will give us every thing. You're mind, your body, and your soul will belong to the HPA. In return, we will give you reason, we will give you purpose. We will be your identity Gabriel, and you will be us. We will make it like you never existed. Do you agree?" I nodded.

"I have only one request" I said, pulling a memory up in my head. Emma, handing me little pieces of ceramic she had made.

_"What are these?" I asked._

_"These are bullets made from special ceramic" Emma said, "It's the stuff on the bottom of space shuttles. Completely heat and pressure resistant, the second hardest substance found in nature, behind diamonds"_

_"Why did you turn it into bullets?" She smiled._

_"Mostly, I wanted to see if I could. Will you try them? For me?"_

"I have my own bullets I want to use" I said, "If I'm not allowed to use them, I'll leave"

"You would have to shoot your way out"

"I know" Now Natalie was frowning.

"I'm sure they will let you use your own bullets. Now come on, we need to get you something"

"What?" The smile returned, as Natalie held up one palm.

"A mark of loyalty"

* * *

The tattoo hurt like a son of a bitch. Who ever says tattoos don't hurt is obviously a sadist, because that means they enjoy some one jabbing needles into their skin. I almost blacked out for a second, and when I returned, I was lying on my back in my "room". The HPA headquarters, just for the record, is a large tower in a major city, which is just as large underground as above ground. The underground was for training and storing of soldiers. Before you ask how the city never noticed the large underground section, many city planners and council members were owned by the HPA.

Each solider, while in training, was given a small closet of a room to live in, with cot, a sink, and a toilet. Nothing else. After your training was done, you were either sent out into the world, or left to rot in your cell, which meant you were assigned to the home office. No body wanted to be assigned to the home office.

Well, over the next four months, the HPA taught me what I needed to know. How to avoid surveillance, how best to take down targets, the strengths an weaknesses of combiomorphs. Combiomorphs were deeply flawed, seeing as they were less then humans, but it takes a lot to kill them. For instance, to kill a pure ghost combiomorph, use a bullet dipped in the blood of a dark-type. I enjoyed training, but I knew it couldn't last. Eventually, I had to do my first kill.

* * *

It was a Wensday night. It was also unusually cold, and their was a full moon in the sky. Natalie sat in the white van with me, the van I had first been kidnapped in. We were parked in an ally, behind a soup kitchen. Natalie had a file folder open, and was reading to me.

"Your targets name is Paul Bateman" Natalie read. "He's simple, a Furret/Persian combio, pure normal type, should be a quick take down. He volunteers here every Wensday, first one in, last one gone" She pointed, "He always exits out that door, locks up, then heads home. Shoot him here, then we want you to carve HPA into his chest, along with the eight sided star. Do you have you knife?"

"Yeah, I do" I mumbled.

"Three blocks away, their will be a cab parked at a street corner. It is waiting for you. Walk to it, not to fast, not to slow, and do not draw attention to your self. Bateman never leaves later then eleven, so if you're not at the cab by eleven twenty, we must assume you have been compromised. We will leave you behind. It will be a simple job, and their should be not witnesses. Are you ready?"

"Yeah" I rasped, throat closing up. With out another word, I got out of the van. Natalie didn't say a word, just pulled it into reverse, and drove away.

Beside the back door, was a large dumpster. I walked over, and crouched behind it, gun drawn. My gun felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and in my pocket was the knife, another thousand pounds. My lungs felt like lead bricks, and my eyes were on fire, from hot tears. The lines the tears left on my face felt like ice in the cold air. I waited behind the dumpster for what felt like eternity, until my legs turned to jell, and my back began to spasm. Finally, when I was about to give up, I heard the door open.

I could see a figure, outlined in the darkness, locking the door. He was whistling In Too Deep, rather ironic, don't you think? The moment he had the key in his pocket, I was out of my hiding place, gun extended. Bateman must have heard me, but when he flipped around, my gun was aimed at his skull.

"Oh my"

"Turn around" I said a mechanical voice, "Get down on your knees, hands behind your head" He complied, and I aimed my gun at the back of his skull. I flexed my finger, as I used my other hand to reach into my jacket and pulled out the knife they gave me.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked. For some reason, the question almost knocked me over. "Why are you killing me?"

"Shut up" I growled.

"I just want to know"

"SHUT UP" I screamed. I began panting uncontrollably, and it took me a minute to regain my composure. "I'm doing it because I have to do it. They're making me"

"They? Wait, you don't mean the HPA" I let out a light sob. "Son, why are you associated with those monsters"

"They're not monsters"

"Yet they're making you kill some one you don't know, you reasons you don't know, why is that?" I began to cry.

"Because, you have to die" I sobbed, before firing all ten rounds into his skull. I then bent over and vomited, unable to look at what I had done, the murder I had done. I dropped the knife on the ground, and took off running as fast as I could. When my blood had become acid, I came to that blasted cab. Some how, I pulled the door open, and tumbled inside, taking deep panicked breaths.

"Is it done?" The driver asked.

"Yeah, it's done" I gasped.

* * *

"You're a monster" Carmen growled, "I ought to kill you right now, just for giggles. Your story was the ranting over a sick man"

"You think that was my story? Hah! That was half of it" I looked at Emma in the passengers seat, who nodded, giving me permission. "The second half begins three years later, and that's where things get interesting"


End file.
